Scene at the 141 Nov. 30, 1845. necessarily involved, and the loss and distress were considerable. The number of schemes, even of a genuine character, was very large; and the scene at the Railway Board on the last day of receiving plans to be laid before Parliament calls to mind some of the incidents of the South Sea Bubble. Before twelve o'clock the hall was choked with eager claimants for attention, each with his plan and specification. The crush was somewhat allayed by the information that all schemes brought before midnight should be duly attended to. But even after that hour projectors arrived in hot haste, flung their plans into the house, only to have them thrown Board of Trade. back again into the street. As it was, nearly 800 schemes were duly registered. It is calculated that, besides the deposit paid, the liabilities of railways on their borrowed capital, on expenses already incurred, and on the expenses calculated in the new plans, amounted to little short of £600,000,000. To make the projects as genuine as possible it had been determined that a considerable deposit should be lodged with the Accountant-General, and so large was the amount required, that very serious fear, fortunately groundless, was entertained among commercial men that a money crisis would occur on the withdrawal, even for the few days, of so much of the currency. Foreign affairs. India. But although in its main lines financial, the five years during which Peel had held office had brought with them the usual crop of foreign difficulties. An empire so widespread as England, and touching foreign nations on so many points, can scarcely be free from such complications. In India, with America and with France our interests had been seriously involved. The events following immediately upon the Afghan war, and the success of Lord Ellenborough against Sindh have already Difficulty in been narrated. The conduct of the Governor-General, though approved by the Ministry and lauded by the Duke of Wellington, was distasteful to the Directors of the Company. The mixed character of the Government of India was well suited to produce such a result. The wars in which the country had been involved, and the ostentatious conduct of the Governor-General, emphasised by the unwise proclamations which had closed the Afghan war, had so displeased the Directors that they made an almost unexampled use of the power vested in them, and Ellenborough. recalled Lord Ellenborough without producing any May 1844. definite charges against him. Their legal right was so clear that the Government, in spite of its strong disapprobation, could not avoid Recall of ratifying their action. Sir Henry Hardinge, a soldier of some celebrity, and a member of the Government, went out to take his place. Lord Ellenborough may have been to blame in the warlike character of his Government, but Sir Henry Hardinge found himself soon compelled to follow in his footsteps. The Sikh War. 1845. The death of Runjeet Singh, the faithful friend of the English, had left his dominions in a state of much confusion, which was still further increased after the death of his successor, Shere Singh, and became so threatening that precautionary measures on the British frontier were necessary. At the end of 1845 the throne was occupied by a boy, Duleep Singh, under the care of the Ranee or Queen-mother. But he ruled in constant terror of a mutinous army and its restless and powerful commanders. Either, as was alleged, under the pressure of the army, or for the politic purpose of giving it employment, the Sikh Government made preparations to invade the British territory. Though repeated demands for explanations remained unanswered, Hardinge, anxious to avoid war and eager for the establishment of a strong Sikh Government, did not immediately march troops to the frontier, but repaired thither himself, ostensibly for the purpose of visiting certain protected States lying on the eastern side of the Sutlej. He was unwilling to believe that an invasion would really take place, and thought that the advanced posts of Ferozepore and Loodiana could hold out against any sudden assault. It was not till the Sikh troops had actually crossed the river with their artillery that the English forces were summoned from Umballah and from Loodiana. The Sikh army, under Tej Singh, having crossed the Sutlej and invested Ferozepore, advanced to the villages of Ferozeshah and Moodkee. It Battle of Dec. 18, 1845. was here that, after a rapid march, the troops under Sir Hugh Gough, Commander-in-Chief, first came upon the enemy. The Sikh army was entirely routed, with the loss of seventeen pieces of cannon. Three days later, Sir Hugh Gough having effected a junction with the garrison of Ferozepore, under Sir John Littler, advanced against the fortified camp of the enemy at Ferozeshah. Again, after very heavy fighting, victory declared for the English. Sir Henry Hardinge estimated the British forces at 16,700 men, and 69 guns, the Sikhs numbered between 48,000 and 60,000 men, and 108 heavy pieces of cannon. The victories were not won without considerable loss. Sir Robert Sale of Jellalabad and Major Broadfoot, one of the most distinguished of the political agents of the North-West, were among the killed. These two victories 1846] THE SIKH WAR 143 The necessitated the retreat of the Sikh army, which repassed the river. The Governor-General had, during these operations, put himself under the command of Sir Hugh Gough, and shared with him the honour of the victories. But the campaign was not yet over. Sikhs did not yet abandon their design, and, finding themselves pressed for provisions, passed a large body of troops across the river, and moved towards Loodiana. To support the little garrison under Brigadier Godby, Sir Harry Smith was despatched. By able manœuvring he succeeded in effecting his communication with Loodiana, and on the 28th of January moved forward Battle of Jan. 28, 1846. Battle of Feb. 10, 1846. to the attack of the enemy, who had drawn up along Aliwal. a ridge near the village of Aliwal. The victory was complete; 52 pieces of artillery fell into the hands of the English, making a total of 143 since the beginning of the campaign. The left bank of the Sutlej was now clear of the enemy, except that they held a strongly fortified camp at Sobraon, covering a bridge across the river. It was determined to carry this by storm, and, Smith having rejoined the Commander-in-Chief on the 10th of February, the attack upon the formidable position began. The Sikhs, who were very strong in artillery, offered a desperate resistance; but at length the English, pressing them on every side, drove them in masses on to their bridge and into the river, which had suddenly risen seven inches behind them. The slaughter upon the bridge, and in the flooded fords, was terrible, and the Sobraon. victory again complete. The course of the English arms had indeed been strikingly glorious, and closed with a battle which the Governor-General described " as an exploit one of the most daring ever achieved, by which in open day a triple line of breastworks, flanked by formidable redoubts, bristling with artillery, manned by thirty-two regular regiments of infantry, was assaulted and carried.” On the very evening of the day of battle the passage of the army began, and by the 24th the whole of the troops were within thirtytwo miles of Lahore. There Sir Henry Hardinge received the submission of the Sikh Government, and dictated the terms of peace. He required the surrender of the territory lying between the Sutlej and the Beas rivers, the payment of a war indemnity, the disbanding of the Sikh army, and its restoration to the same form and numbers as during the reign of Runjeet Singh, the surrender of all guns which had been used against us, and the entire control of both banks of the Sutlej river. The young Maharajah was replaced on the throne under the regency of his mother. Some English troops were left in the country, and an English Resident appointed; but it was distinctly stated that the internal government should be left entirely to the Sikhs themselves. Sir Henry Hardinge determined to give them an opportunity of saving the nation from military anarchy and misrule; but at the same time he let it be clearly understood that if the opportunity was lost the Government of India would have to make other arrangements. The Queen Regent was unwise in the choice of a Minister. She selected Lal Singh, her paramour. Selfish and vicious, he was quite unable to carry out the required reforms, which implied the disbanding of much of the old army, and the resumption of many grants which had been made to prominent and anarchical chiefs. The English felt that they were upholding by their arms a thoroughly bad governor. Sufficient cause for removing him was before long found. Cashmere, one of the outlying provinces of the Sikh empire, which had been ceded to the English to cover war expenses, had been by them given or sold to Golab Singh, who in the late disturbances had consistently urged the maintenance of the English Alliance. But the chief in actual occupation as Governor for the Sikh Government refused to carry out this arrangement. It was proved that in so refusing he was acting at the instigation of Lal Singh. So clear a proof of the duplicity of this Minister necessitated his removal and the appointment of an English Resident, with a sufficient staff of subordinates, to whom the widest powers of supervision and administration were intrusted. The officer selected for this responsible place was Henry Lawrence, who at once set to work to introduce reforms into every branch of the government, ably supported by a little band of officials most of whom became subsequently well known in Indian history. For some years all seemed to promise well, and it was in the belief that, though his first attempt at introducing self-government had failed, he had succeeded in rendering the British rule of incalculable advantage to the people of the Punjab, that Lord Hardinge withdrew from the Lord Lieutenancy. The Ashburton Treaty in 1842 had settled the questions as to the frontier on the north-east of the United States satisfactorily, and although there were not wanting some who considered that the English Government had carried their conciliatory temper somewhat too far, the nation as a whole was pleased at the peaceful solution. But there was still a district in the extreme west where the frontier between the two countries was quite indefinite. The rapid development of the States rendered it necessary that some fixed line should be drawn beyond the Rocky Mountains Difficulty on the Canadian Frontier. 1845] THE OREGON QUESTION 145 as well as to the foot of them. Thus far the fourteenth parallel had ? been accepted by both parties as a satisfactory frontier in 1818. The country beyond, known as Oregon, was not at that time sufficiently in the occupation of either country to be included in the arrangement, and a convention was made securing the right of joint occupation to both English and American citizens. In 1827, when the question again arose, such difficulties were found to exist in the way of a final settlement, that it was thought better to continue the existing convention by a treaty terminable at a year's notice given by either of the governments concerned. As population increased and the territory became of more importance, such an indefinite arrangement became undesirable, and the attention of Lord Aberdeen had been directed, ever since the conclusion of the Ashburton Treaty, to the settlement of this further question. With a people so self-asserting as the Americans, and upon a point so beset with conflicting rights, it was not easy to deal. But the President, Mr. Tyler, had shown himself disposed to act in a friendly manner, and there had appeared, in 1845, as Lord Aberdeen declared in the House, a fair hope of avoiding war, and of closing the question by amicable compromise. But in that year a new President, Mr. Polk, came into office, a representative of the Democrats, and bound to show his sympathy with the somewhat encroaching and self-asserting character of the great party which had elected him. Within a fort- with America. night of the encouraging declaration of Aberdeen, the inaugural address of the President was issued, containing an uncompromising assertion of the rights of the United States to the whole of the disputed territory. The warlike tone of this address, and of the expressions of public opinion which followed it, roused a corresponding feeling in England, and it was in the midst of enthusiastic cheers from all parts of the House that Peel explained that since the accession of the new President, nothing having been heard of the negotiation which he was now inclined to regard as hopeless, Government was resolved and prepared, after exhausting all efforts for peace, to maintain its rights. There is little doubt that the prospect of war with America had much to do with the more conciliatory attitude towards Ireland adopted at this time by the Prime Minister. He felt how great a source of weakness Ireland would prove if dissatisfied and upon the verge of rebellion. There was for the moment real danger of a war. But in spite of frequent heart-burnings, there is always at the bottom the strongest disinclination both in America and England to press matters to extremity. It is felt that a war between VICT. Danger of war 1845. K |